The highly prestigious events, which will kick off from the 17th– 23rd of February at Merewether will see some of the world’s best surfers battling it out for valuable ASP World Rankings points.

Newcastle Surfest event director and founder Warren Smith is proud to be giving two of NSW’s most promising junior surfers the opportunity to test their skills against a variety of surfers from around the world.

“Surfest 2014 is proud to work with Surfing NSW to be able to give two of NSW’s best junior surfers – Monty Tait and Holly Wawn - the chance to compete in the 6-star rated Burton Toyota Pro and the Hunter Ports Women’s Classic,” said Smith. “The opportunity would not be possible without the support from Destination NSW, Burton Toyota, and Hunter Ports. These sponsors allow Surfest to present the two six-star rated ASP events.”

Tait will be seeded into the round of 144 in the Burton Toyota Pro, while Wawn will be seeded into the round of 48 in the Hunter Ports Women’s Classic.

The decision to award Monty and Holly wildcards was based on their results in the recent 2013 Soundwave Australian Junior Surfing Titles, The 2013 Australian Surf Festival and the 2013 NSW State Junior Championships. In all three aforementioned events, both Tait and Wawn progressed through to the finals with both surfers taking out the Under-18 NSW State Junior Titles.

“Surfest will be my first ASP star event. I feel I’m mentally ready for it,” said Tait. “I think it will be such a great experience to potentially surf against some solid seeds. The last few years, it’s been awesome seeing the likes of Taj Burrow and Felipe Toledo in the event and I hope they enter again this next year.”

Tait added: “I could never have imagined the year I have had. It’s been awesome and I hope this wildcard to Surfest will be the perfect platform to kick off 2014. I have only surfed Merewether a few times in the past, so I’m definitely looking forward to getting up there and locking some time in.”

2014 marks Surfest's 29th year and next year it looks set to host 800 national and international competitors over the entirety of the festival.